The Eternal Moon

"A Werewolf is a creature of our darkest. But what few know is this: they're real." A small English town harbours a shady past, and something forgotten about for years is coming to light. Unfortunately for Jackie Everest all it takes to get mixed up in the horror story is an oddly eccentric boy obsessed with cats. With a catastrophic lunar event just around the corner, Jackie has to be brave and separate fact from fiction.

The Eternal Moon is rising. The Family is returning. Jackie has no idea what's coming.

4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

She was confined, constricted with no hope of escape. There were times she thought she would die if she didn't get away, times she tricked herself into thinking she was already dead, and suffering for her past sins. But no - she was, she reminded herself, cursed to live forever flitting form to form as each human host passed on to the next life. She would be floating in the middle of a field, drifting nameless through one meaningless face and another until once again a match for her was found, forcing her from her dreamlike state to the harsh reality of her existence.

Surely this was unfair. To be forced into such a meaningless existence because of the sins of another - the injustice of it all screamed at her again and again, in the long time she had been by herself.

She can feel her host's emotions, can hear her thoughts and to her own surprise, she likes her host. She does not blame her host, Colette, for her predicament for she was as much the victim as herself. It was not her, but her brother, Andrew, who prevented her from the small taste of freedom she had left. It was he who encased her in silver. She would get him back, when the time came. If it ever did.

... But no, there it was. It was here. A freedom so pure and icy it was reminded her of time long ago, before she and the rest of her kind had been cast into the darkness by a vengeful witch. A rumble of thunder as a prelude to a storm. There it was. The light, the great light she and all the others been waiting thousands of years for. For she knew what it meant: freedom. For all those years ago, when that downright hag of a girl cursed the people of the five kingdoms where she had come from, she heard the herald of hope the woman's dying companion gave them.

"The New Light of The Eternal Moon will free us all!"

The words were immortalised in her mind, the promise it seemed to hold, the horror and desperation in the man's face as he watched the scene unfold before him. She - Lady Sister of the Lupine Kingdom - had waited for this moment for a very, very long time.

The light of the eternal moon was approaching.

///***\\\

Rye looked down at his phone. He tapped the newest name on the list: Andrew Summers. His fingers flew, typing out a message about where they would meet up later. He'd had a lengthy conversation with Andrew earlier, but he was

Jackie sat in the back seat of Rye's Dad's car, and wondered how she was going to explain to her own Dad why she was driven home by a complete stranger. Oh, she wouldn't be allowed out of the house for the rest of her teenage life...

"So, miss, where do you live?" Rye's Dad asked over an old song played on the radio, making eye contact with Jackie through the rear view mirror, striking brown ones. He seemed like a nice guy, from what she could tell.

"Um, Number 7 Foxglove, if you, er, know where that is," Jackie stumbled over her words, her throat running dry. She forced herself to gulp quietly, hoping it went unnoticed by Rye and his Dad at the front of the car. They didn't seem to, but it did nothing to calm the nerves that were slowly building up and forming a pit at the bottom of stomach.

."Foxglove? You gotta be joking. We live at Number 40!" Rye's Dad chuckled, nudging his son on the shoulder. "Why don't you ask your new girlfriend if she wants to make this a regular thing, eh. I could take you both to and from school, free of charge, saves on bus money too," He added, looking back at Jackie and giving a wide grin, which reminded Jackie too much of her own Father when she ever gave a rare lift to her friends back in London, the traffic was always too congested to make it regular thing. The thought of her old home made Jackie strangely homesick, she was okay with moving here, but she'd found that it was like she'd packed up and moved to another planet. Everything here was so... quiet.

Rye blushed, shooting an exasperated look at his father and opened his mouth, once, twice, before saying, "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a girl I know. Jackie. She's new. I think. You're new right?" Rye asked, looking in the rear view mirror at the lorry behind the car. Why, just why, did Colt have to open his mouth at the most inappropriate of times? Especially when it was always he who had to suffer the consequences.

Jackie blinked. "You only just worked that out? I thought you figured that out when you tried to hit on me," Rye sank back into his chair. Just great, just great. Thanks to you, Colt, I have to face my Dad...

Well, it's not my fault there are so many beautiful ladies in the world, Rye.

... Just shut up.

"You tried to hit on her?" Rye's Dad sent a questioning look at Rye, in a stern tone, the cheeriness in his voice gone. Jackie shrunk against the car door, trying to make herself unnoticed. Maybe she shouldn't have opened her mouth like that. It was only making the situation more aawkward.

"I would have really liked to hit her, if you know what I mean," Rye sat up, sending a smirk back at Jackie, "but she was playing hard to get and -" Jackie shook her head, one moment this guy was saying he wasn't interested in her, the next he was clearly flirting with her, if the creepy innuendo was anything to go by.

"Colt, stop that, this instant!" Rye's Dad glared at the boy, and Jackie just stared at the two, confused. Who on earth was Colt, and what on earth was up with Rye? It was creeping her out, the way he kept talking about her.

Rye closed, his eyes, mortified. "Sorry!" He blurted out, breathing in quickly. He couldn't believe what Colt had just done. In front of his Dad, as well! Sometimes the idiot just couldn't keep quiet, could he?

Rye's Dad looked back at Jackie, who was looking very uncomfortable at this point. "Sorry about that, Jackie, - is it? Correct me if I'm wrong - it's just that Rye here..." He sent a sideways glance at the boy in question, "Well, let's just say it's complicated. He was born with a rare disorder, inherited from his mother's side." Rye's Dad paused for a moment, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"It's a strange affliction. There's a... connection in his brain, which isn't hooked up correctly. In the area of his brain thatcontrolls personality - it basically means that sometimes he can't control his actions. He's got two personalities, I guess. I can never remember the technical term for it, but over the years, Rye and I started to call the other side of him 'Colt'. Sort of a funny story... got the idea from a local boy, eccentric fellow, about the same age as you and Rye here."

"Yeah, Colin, he's a nice guy, right Dad? He was waiting outside the school gates earlier. He was talking to Jackie as if he knew her,"

Jackie, who had been listening to Rye's Dad intently, perked up. If there was one person she wanted to know more about, it was Colin. The boy in question had been on her mind. How had he been able to find her this morning? She guessed he found her school because of the uniform she was wearing, but how had he shown up at her bus stop? Not to mention his great disappearing act.

"Oh, everyone's heard of Colin around here. He's well known around here, a local celebrity if you will. A few years back, he and went to the police about a group of men who had a van full to the brim with cats in cages - they were breeding them, intending to sell their litter on to pet shop, legal or otherwise. Long story short, the police ignored him and he rescued the cats all by himself, all hero like."

"So yeah, he's one of the most heard about people around here, though not many are granted the luxury to see him often. He likes to keep to himself, with a few exceptions. Including you now, I'm guessing. The only other person who everyone's heard of around here is Myra Everest herself. Bloody interesting woman, Myra."

Jackie's eyes widened and "You're kidding, right? Myra Everest is my grandmother!" Jackie laughed out loud, this was news to her. How long had her grandmother been famous, and, for that matter, why was she famous?

"You're joking! Myra Everest's granddaughter, in my car? Now that's something most can't say... Foxglove, here we are. You're what, seven, did you say? That's right down the end by the forest, right? Nice view. Forty's way down the other side, next to the road into Nightingale."

"Nightingale? I think that's where my Dad's going to start work in a few weeks," Jackie replied as her house came into view.

Rye's Dad pulled up to the house and wolf whistled. "Nice place you've got there," He grinned, "Though I wouldn't expect any less from an Everest," He winked. "Hope I see you around Jackie. Rye should invite you over some time,"

"Dad, I don't think she wants to go to my house just yet. I hardly know her. No offence, Jackie."

Jackie snorted, "None taken," and undid her seat belt and she reached over to open the car door, or at least tried to. It appeared to be stuck. "Come on," she muttered as she tried to pry it open for the final time the door flew open with a sharp shock on her finger tips and she shrieked. Rye's Dad twisted in his seat. "You okay back there, Jackie? Rye, don't just sit there, go help the poor girl with her bags, lazy sod,"

Rye pulled himself out of the car, groaning as his muscles protested and stretched out his arms before moving to Jackie, who was closing the car door, shaking slightly. Rye frowned. "You look shaky, I'm not that scary, am I?"

Rye's Dad grinned at her through the window. "Reg. Reg Harvest, and no problem, it was pleasure. Have a good day!" Rye waved at Jackie weakly and opened the car door, crouching to get inside.

"See you tomorrow?" Jackie asked, and Rye nodded, opening the car door and crouching to get in. "See you tomorrow, Jackie," He replied, slamming the door shut.

When Jackie reached the door to her house, Reg turned to his son as he put the car into ignition. "Well, I think she bought the story about your condition,"

"Well, no, Dad. She somehow worked out that I share a body with a perverted Werewolf that can sometimes control my actions, because that's what normal people assume," Rye rolled his eyes, a sense of relief flowing through him now that Jackie didn't think he was a creep. Or, at least, thought he was less of one than she had before. No, I'm pretty sure she still finds us creepy. What have I told you about shutting up, Colt?

"I'm your Dad, don't speak sarcasm with me, mister." He paused. "Did I seriously just give the great Myra Everest's granddaughter a lift home? What's happening to the world?" Reg chuckled, shaking his head as he pulled away from Jackie's house.

///***\\\

Jackie gulped as she rang the doorbell to her house. Goodbye, cruel world, she thought to herself. It was nice knowing you. The door was unlocked a few moments later, and opened to reveal her brother Jet - who was looking better than he had done in a weeks.

Jackie stepped inside her house, looking consciously side to side. It was still hard to believe that she lived here; the house was beautiful. They'd lived in a small, crowed house on the outskirts of the main city, surrounded by countless buildings, the roar of traffic always in the distance.

"Hey Jet. Where's Mum and Dad? And are you feeling better? Because you look it," Jackie asked her brothers stepping past him into the hallway. There were photos of her family on the wall, and old ones of her friends too.

In one of the photos, a small one in the centre, was a picture of Jackie and her two friends, Samantha and Zeke. It was one that had been taken when they'd gone camping in the country five years before, a night she remembered well. Zeke had ended up in hospital after being dared to jump in a nearby lake by Samantha, and he'd almost drowned. A pang of nostalgia hit her in the stomach and she blinked away tears.

"They're in the kitchen, and yeah, I do feel sort of better, actually." Jet smirked, leaning against the stairwell. "Why, worried about me, are you, Sis? Touching," He remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, shove off you idiot! Haven't you got sick-boy things to do, sick-boy?" Jackie rolled her eyes and started walking in the direction of the kitchen, her school bag still hung over one of her shoulders.

"You suck at come backs, Jack!" Jet shouted after her, grinning.

"Whatever!"

Jackie went to open the door but it was pushed open before she could and she jumped. Her Mum was standing there, and her Dad was in the open plan room behind her. "Where've you been?" Her Mum questioned her. Jackie opened her mouth to reply, her heart thumping. But before she could get a word out, her Mum brushed it aside.

"Never mind, we'll talk about it later. We're going to see your grandmother."

///***\\\

The Everest family stood in awe outside the almost mansion-sized house the sat-nav led them to. Jackie was beginning to understand what Reg had said earlier, 'I wouldn't expect anything less from an Everest', indeed. According to what she could tell, her grandmother owned the largest house in Reedson. She knew her grandmother had bought a new house in the area, but this? This was just breath taking. How did Myra get enough money to get this?

Jet gaped up at the house and grinned. "This place is wicked! I bet gran's got, like, a games room and everything!" Jackie didn't even reply to her brother, she didn't need to. Remembering the short time she had spent with her grandmother in the past, she wouldn't be surprised if her grandmother had three games rooms.

Then the door opened, and everyone stopped talking, stunned into silence. Because there, standing in the doorway in purple slippers, was Myra Everest. With a shock of electric blue hair standing up in a way that should be impossible for a seventy-something woman. "Daniel! You should have called, I could have prepared, come in, come in all of you, this way, I have a visitor over at the moment, you'd like him, Jackie..."

The shell shocked family followed Myra without a word through a hallway the length of their own house, and into a living room the size of both Jackie's and Jet's bedrooms and the bathroom added together. Sitting down on a couch opposite a plasma screen television, Jackie's parents shared the look which meant they needed to talk about something important, and in private.

"Kids, we need to talk with my Mum, so go explore, okay?" Jackie's Dad brushed the children out of the room.

"I'm gonna go look for a games room!" Jet ran off down the hallway, anticipating a fun night.

Jackie looked around, where to go... maybe upstairs, but later, she would do that later. But right now...

But right now, she would follow her nose. There was something sweet cooking somewhere near, and it was making her feel starving. Jackie wondered if her grandmother had employed staff to look after this place, there was no way it was just her and her grandfather. Where was her grandfather, for that matter?

She was broken out of her thoughts when she opened the door to the kitchen from the scent was coming from.

Jackie took one look at the boy standing in her grandmothers kitchen with a bowl of muffins in one hand. Of all the people, it would be him, wouldn't it? He was humming a tune, so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice her entering and coming to stand beside him.

"Need some help with that, Colin?" Jackie questioned, eyeing the muffins like a predator and suppressing a laugh when Colin twirled round ecstatically, putting the bowl on a long table that extended into the kitchen. Jackie sunk into a seat, one eye on Colin, one eye on the oh-so-nice muffins.

"Jackie the Jaguar! What are doing at Granny Blue Hair's house?"

"Myra's my grandmother," Jackie explained, "What are you doing here?" She asked Colin, eager to know why he was in her grandmothers house, apparently baking cakes. Really, really nice smelling muffins at that. "And my god, what on earth are in those muffins and can I have one?" She pleaded, her bottom lip sticking out as her stomach rumbled.

"Wah! Too many questions! Granny Blue Hair is your grandmother. Huh. I wonder if that means you have witch blood too... You know, I knew you smelt familiar. Fifi said I was just being stupid and I should leave you alone, but he's grumpy because my Aunt had to take him to the vet today, which is part of the reason why I'm at Granny Blue Hair's house. She's a friend of my Aunt's, and I mean, look at the size of this place, it's way bigger than my house, so she said I could hang out here for a bit. There aren't any cats, though, which is a shame. Grumpy would like this place, he likes to be by himself a lot, and I'm sure Trina and Sammy would have fun occupying one of the bedrooms..." Colin stopped for breath, but before Jackie could say anything, he opened his mouth again.

"These are my famous raspberry muffins, I got the recipe from my Mum when I was little. I used to bake them all the time, with my Mum, before I met Fifi and she died," Colin looked down a moment, and frowned, which to Jackie seemed alien on his face which made her feel uncomfortable. When Colin looked back at Jackie, though, his smile reappeared on his face.

"You can have as many as you want, there's another batch in the oven for later, now, do you want to eat these or not, before they get cold and the rabbits come and eat them?" Colin stopped, his face serious as he scanned the room for imaginary rabbits. Jackie just laughed at his superstition and without another word, she picked up a muffin and bit into it...

Jackie thought the outbreak of flavour on her tongue would kill her. Was it even possible for muffins to taste that good? From the look of Colin, who was chomping on his own muffin with a look of delight that probably mirrored her own, it somehow was. Colin was from now on, in her opinion anyway, the best baker she knew. Not that she knew many bakers, but still. Colin was good at baking muffins.

She swallowed the last piece of the muffin, looked at Colin, who was on his second muffin and, after hesitating for a moment, succumbed to temptation and took a second muffin... and a third... and a fourth...